Hours | Review

Katrina and the Hours: Walker’s One Man Show a Dismal Drizzle

With his unfortunate and untimely death so recent in our memories, there is bound to be a morbid curiosity amongst moviegoers for the last couple of film projects starring Paul Walker that have yet to be released. After debuting at the SXSW film festival earlier this year, Eric Heisserer’s directorial debut, Hours, makes its way to theaters this month, a veritable one man show for the deceased star in what’s being marketed as a nail-biting, race against time styled thriller.

While Walker’s death has caused a re-evaluation of his contributions to this silver screen, there are several sources claiming this may be a career best performance. Surely, to tear down the man would be in poor taste, but it seems death wears rosy-colored glasses because Heisserer’s film is remarkably silly and unforgivably gimmicky. Carrying the weight of the film on his questionable shoulders, Walker is featured in nearly every scene, most often without any other actors present, in what some would even cite as a performer’s dream, a chance to prove undeniable prowess of the craft. Sadly, that is not the case in this overwrought, under baked and faintly exploitational Hurricane Katrina set thriller, which, if anything, never rises above the quality of an unintentionally laughable direct to DVD feature.

Hurricane Katrina is about to decimate New Orleans, and Nolan Hayes (Paul Walker) and wife Abigail (Genesis Rodriguez) are forced to rush to the hospital since she’s gone into labor five weeks early. Abigail dies but gives birth to a frail baby girl that must be placed in a ventilator for at least 48 hours. Grief stricken, Nolan’s trying to figure out what to do next when Katrina’s fury cuts off the hospital’s electricity and the patients and staff are evacuated, leaving Nolan behind alone with the baby. The ventilator is too heavy to permit transport, and, worse, the battery it now must run on will only hold a charge for three minutes which means that Nolan must hand-crank the generator. Hours pass and a sleep deprived Nolan, along with the help of a friendly stray dog, must fend off the unkind onslaught of time and eventual looters, desperately hoping that help will soon come.

Its hospital set birthing scene in the midst of Hurricane Katrina automatically begins multiple unfavorable comparisons with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and its one man against the elements scenario recalls recent fare like I Am Legend, which also had problems with a convincing sole performance from Will Smith, forced to emote alongside special effects costars and a friendly canine. But Hours is nowhere near the same league as those films, its vague title ominous only for the fact that it refuses to divulge just how much time will be traversed before the forgiveness of end credits.

Walker is, sad to say, as irredeemably laughable as he is distractingly unbelievable. In his defense, he’s saddled with having to wade through Heisserer’s unquestionably atrocious screenplay, forcing him to interact with everything from his infant child and the ventilator to the conveniently placed dog with miraculous rescue instincts. Worse, we dissolve into multiple flashbacks of Walker’s amber hued life with Genesis Rodriguez where not one tiny modicum of reality is reached.

Heisserer seems to have a concept, but this is narrative nadir, reaching a zenith when Walker has to pull out his wallet and explain to the infant that she’s just like grandpa. But there are plenty of other zingers here for your surprise/pleasure from the scribe of Final Destination 5 and the recent reboots of The Thing and A Nightmare on Elm Street. While Walker’s credit as executive producer indicates he was certainly in support of this venture, the film will only waste those precious units of time it’s so blandly named after.

.5/5 Stars